The present invention is directed toward a sleeve for a container, and more specifically, toward an insulating sleeve for a beverage container that includes at least one portion spaced apart from the sidewall of the beverage container.
Coffee and other hot beverages were for many years served in cups made from foamed plastic such as Styrofoam. These cups possessed excellent insulative properties and allowed a user to handle a cup easily and safely even when the cup was filled with scalding hot liquid. Foamed plastic, however, has fallen into disfavor in recent years for environmental reasons, and many restaurants and other establishments that serve hot beverages in disposable containers have tried to find an alternative cup material that was inexpensive, biodegradable, and, most importantly, that insulated a user""s hand from the temperature of a liquid contained in a cup.
A small degree of insulation is provided when multiple cups are used to hold a beverage. This practice of xe2x80x9cdouble cupping,xe2x80x9d however, does little to insulate a user""s hand from the heat of the beverage and doubles the amount of waste produced because two cups are discarded for every beverage that is consumed. Another common insulating solution is to provide a sleeve, preferable formed from a corrugated paperboard or cardboard material, that can be wrapped around a cup. In theory, the air spaces formed in the corrugated material provide some degree of insulation between the hot sidewall of the beverage container and the user""s hand. However, in practice, the corrugations often provide inadequate protection, and this protection lessens if the cup is gripped tightly enough to crush the corrugations and bring a user""s fingers close to the side wall of the cup or container. Thus, while these sleeves typically insulate a user""s hand enough to prevent serious burns, they rarely reduce the temperature of the cup side wall to a level that is comfortable to grip.
Other solutions, such as the use of vacuum insulated, reusable metal containers, or reusable foam rubber sleeves address the above problem, but require a user to bring a reusable container with him every time he wants to carry a beverage away from a restaurant or store. Likewise, paperboard cups with fold-out handles are known, but these tend to be awkward to use and relatively expensive to produce. Therefore, it would be desirable to provide an economical, disposable insulative sleeve that presents a user with a gripping surface that remains at a comfortable temperature even when the temperature of the liquid in the container is very hot or cold.
These problems and others are addressed by the present invention which comprises a sleeve formed from a thin flexible material such as paperboard and that includes at least one portion spaced apart from the side wall of the beverage container to create an air gap.
While the sleeve will be described herein for use in connection with a paperboard coffee cup, such as those commonly found in restaurants, convenience stores, and speciality coffee shops, it should be appreciated that the sleeve will function equally well on other types of cups and containers. And, while insulative sleeves are most commonly used in connection with hot beverages such as coffee, they would function equally well to insulate a person""s hand from a cup filled with a cold beverage or other liquid.
In a first embodiment, the invention comprises a sleeve with first and second wings or ridges that project from opposite sides thereof and run from near the sleeve top edge to a point near the sleeve bottom edge. These ridges are spaced away from the cup sidewall by a spacer element at the top edge of the ridge and provide a person with a gripping or holding surface that is not in direct contact with the hot sidewall of the container. Because the ridges are located along only two portions of the sidewall, the remainder of the sleeve can be used to grip the cup when the contents have cooled to a more tolerable level.
In a second embodiment of the invention, an insulative sleeve includes first and second wings or ridges that project from opposite sides of the container and run from near the sleeve top edge to a point approximately half way between the top and bottom edges of the sleeve. These ridges provide gripping surfaces spaced apart from the hot sidewall of the container and allow a person to grip the sleeve and hold the container. Because the wings do not extend all the way to the bottom edge of the sleeve, a person can also grasp the sleeve and cup below the wings and hold the cup in a normal manner when the temperature of the contents has reached a comfortable level.
In both embodiments, the wings extend sufficiently far from the side wall of the container to allow a user to hang a cup lid on the wing while putting cream or sugar in his cup.
In addition, both embodiments allow an insulative sleeve to be formed from a relatively thin paperboard material instead of from the heavier, bulkier, and more expensive corrugated material that is now used for cup sleeves.
The invention also comprises novel blanks for forming the holders of the subject invention. The blanks are shaped to minimize waste and to allow for an efficient lay-out on a sheet of paperboard or other material.
It is therefore a principal object of the present invention to provide a holder for a container that includes at least one portion spaced apart from the side wall of the container.
It is another object of the present invention to provide an insulative holder for a container or cup and that includes a spacing element for maintaining an air gap between the container and a portion of the holder.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide an insulative cup holder with first and second gripping portions that are insulated from the side wall of the cup.
It is still another object of the present invention to provide a cup holder that is shiftable between a flat storage configuration and an open use configuration that includes at least one spacer element for separating a portion of the holder from the side wall of the cup when the holder is in the open configuration.
It is still a further object of the invention to provide a blank for forming a cup holder having the above characteristics.
It is yet another object of the present invention to provide a cup holder having a surface on which the lid of the container can be hung.
It is yet a further object of the invention to provide an insulative sleeve for a cup that includes weakened portions that tear when certain cups are inserted into the sleeve to allow one sleeve to be used with cups of several different sizes.
It is another object of the present invention to provide an insulating cup sleeve that can be formed from non-corrugated materials.